The Woodford Equity Income fund is expected to attract billions of investors’ money, and will be available to buy on (as-yet-unnamed) fund supermarkets and via discount brokers.

For many loyal investors who have followed — and benefited from — Mr Woodford’s success over the past 25 years, there is an agonising dilemma: should they follow the star manager, or stick with the Invesco Perpetual Income and High Income funds that he leaves behind?

Some have already made their decision. Billions have flooded out of the Invesco funds, which is now managed by his successor and long-time colleague Mark Barnett.

Mr Woodford has vowed to stick to the investment strategy that he has followed with spectacular results for so many years. He has a long-term approach, which means if he buys shares in a company, he’ll usually stick with it for at least five years.

Right now that means he is a fan of tobacco firm Imperial, pharmaceutical companies such as AstraZeneca and some utilities businesses, including SSE and Drax.

He also looks at more off-the‑wall opportunities and is currently looking at tiny science start-up companies.

And he is very happy to go against the crowd. He famously avoided tech stocks in the dotcom boom and banking stocks before the 2008 crisis. Both decisions, slated at the time, were vindicated in the long term.

This is a long-held approach that has served investors well.

The Invesco Perpetual High Income, which he ran for so long, had £14billion invested in it before he left — and almost £3billion of that has flowed out since his departure.

And the £1,000 he turned into £25,349 works out at an annual year-on-year return of more than 13 per cent.

While managing such huge sums of money might seem a fund manager’s dream, it can actually be quite restrictive, limiting the type of fims in which you can invest.

Mr Woodford says the amount of money he runs is not important: ‘My strategy is motivated by where the best investment opportunities are. The investment process and intellectual effort behind every investment decision is the same regardless of how much money I’m running.’

So can investors expect any wild cards from this new venture?

‘At the moment my research does not suggest I am under pressure to change anything. I’m happy with the portfolio I have constructed,’ he says.

Using his former Invesco Perpetual Income fund as a guide, that means healthcare companies, financial firms and consumer-related businesses.

‘I have the same strategy, but how that’s implemented does change over time.

‘At one time I was holding a lot in banks and cyclical industries [those that prosper when the economy is doing well, such as mining and car manufacturers], and there are other times when I’ve had none of those.

‘Tobacco is the one sector that has always featured.’

So with a similar portfolio and investment strategy to his previous fund, investors might be wondering if Mr Woodford has an ace up his sleeve in order to attract money into his new venture.

It is, simply, in the form of fees. The new fund will have an annual charge of 0.75 per cent and no initial charge.

By comparison, the Invesco Perpetual Income fund has a yearly fee of 1.66 per cent and a 5 per cent initial fee.

It’s not a stand against the industry’s fees, he insists, but merely a reflection of a ‘made-to- measure’ business that is more cost-efficient. ‘I have been liberated,’ says Mr Woodford.

Building a new business from scratch means investors will benefit in a number of ways, he says.

First, the streamlined business will have lower costs, which Mr Woodford wants to pass on to customers.

And, second, he will no longer be bogged down with ‘legacy business and bureaucracy’.

This leaves him with less time spent on paper work and more on doing what he does best: managing money.

So should you invest? Past performance is no guide to the future and there are absolutely no guarantees that he can replicate his Invesco Perpetual success.

Danny Cox, head of financial planning at Hargreaves Lansdown, says: ‘His contrarian investment style means investors do have to endure some periods of underperformance. However, the long-term results speak for themselves.’

Ben Yearsley, head of investment research at Charles Stanley, rates the new fund as a buy: ‘Neil Woodford is an excellent long-term manager who isn’t swayed by short-term market movements. He identifies his companies and sticks with them.’

However, he does point out that for those investors who don’t wish to follow Mr Woodford to his new firm, his successor at Invesco Perpetual, Mark Barnett, is still an excellent choice.

Mr Barnett has managed Invesco Perpetual Income and Growth Trust since 1999. It is not at the top of the performance charts, but it is an above-average performer and would have turned £1,000 into £2,499 if you had invested five years ago.